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Tucked on the back corner of its property is Iowa City’s newest restaurant’s piece de resistance: a new 3,870-pound barbecue pit.

Mosley’s Barbecue and Provisions, a Carolina-style barbecue restaurant with “no gimmicks, no tricks,” according to its co-owner and pit master Sean Keller, is scheduled to open sometime over the weekend of July 17 next year.

Keller didn’t want to give an exact date for when Mosley’s will open in case they’re not 100 percent ready, but he said the restaurant’s key to sweet barbecue success will be the nearly two-ton pit.

“No charcoal, no gas heating, it’s going to be heated with all wood,” Keller said. The pit was custom-made and lowered into its spot between the Mosley’s building at 525 S. Gilbert St., and The Vine next door via an industrial crane.

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Sean Keller shows off a custom-made barbecue pit outside Mosley’s Barbecue and Provisions on July 7. The pit weights nearly 4,000 pounds and was lifted into place with a crane.(Photo: David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Mosley’s replaces Old Capitol Brew Works, which closed in February. For Keller and co-owner Matt Swift, the location brings back fond memories.

“I always had my heart set on this location. We used to hang out here all the time when it was Fitzie’s,” Swift said.

Swift has his hands in several area restaurants, from Pullman Bar & Diner and Blackstone in Iowa City, Big Grove Brewery in Solon to Reds Alehouse in North Liberty and 30hop in Coralville, so he and his partners know a thing or two about starting a new restaurant.

When Brew Works closed, Swift, Keller and co-owner Corey Kent, the current manager of Reds Alehouse, acted quickly to secure the location despite just having opened Pullman in January.

The months-long turnaround from securing the property to opening was relatively quick, Swift said, thanks to guidance from Downtown District retail development director Nate Kaeding and Keller’s already well-established idea for a barbecue restaurant.

“I’ve done barbecue every which way. This is what I do when making barbecue for family and friends,” Keller said.

The meat that Mosley’s will serve — mostly pork and chicken — will be smoked in the colossal pit in a way Keller said “may not be interesting outside the nerdy barbecue world.”

The firebox, where the the wood burns to heat the pit, features a 300-pound door that will ensure no smoke escapes. Attached to the pit, smoke draws from the firebox to the far end of the pit and escapes through the opposite side where the pit’s chimney is located. Keller calls the smoke movement “reverse flow.”

While Keller admits most people get excited for ribs, he said the signature dish will be a pulled pork sandwich served with a mound of coleslaw on top of the pork.

Of course the traditional sides will be offered — corn bread, baked beans, collard greens, coleslaw — so the minds behind Mosley’s also wanted to reflect tradition with their drink menu.

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Porter, a cast-iron pig, is seen next to Mosley’s Barbecue and Provisions beer taps on July 7.(Photo: David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen)

Co-owner Corey Kent said the bar will serve whiskey sours, juleps, a hickory smoked old fashioned and bootleg lemonades. Add a large bar for plenty of seats, 12 taps and about 50 beers, and there will be a drink for everyone, Kent said.

“I want it to feel like you’re in the backyard of your grandma’s house in the summer, sharing drinks and relaxing with family and friends,” Swift said. “That’s my goal for this place.”

To add a communal feel, seating at Mosley’s will mostly be seating at long picnic tables inside and outdoors on the patio.

What Swift and his cohorts hope is that Mosley’s will add up to something more than just a place to grab some pulled pork and a beer.

“We want this place to be a social experience,” Swift said. “You go to a bar for a certain reason, a restaurant for another reason. We try to represent both here.”

Mosley’s Barbecue and Provisions

Address: 525 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City.

The menu: Will feature Carolina-style barbecue including ribs, pulled pork, chicken, traditional side dishes and a bar featuring Southern drinks, 12 taps and more than 50 beers.